THEY were celebrating up in Hexham on Saturday night as Tynedale were crowned champions of the NTSL’s top division despite crashing to an unceremonious defeat at the hands of the retiring title holders, Swalwell.

After being bundled out for a paltry 54 to lose by an overwhelming 105 runs, the Tynedale pain soon eased as news came through from Ashington that the only team who could catch them, Shotley Bridge, were in the process of blowing their own chance of last day glory by crashing to a five wicket defeat.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the table, Ryton appeared to have climbed out of the relegation quagmire with a home victory over Burnopfield, but the deduction of 20 points by the league for allegedly playing an ineligible player in the previous week’s win over Annfield Plain, a decision which is subject to appeal, meant it was they who dropped through the trapdoor with Leadgate earning an unusual reprieve.

Tynedale went into the game against Swalwell needing eight points to be sure of the title, and they wrapped five of those up in the first innings by bowling their visitors out for 159, Richard Darling’s 12 over burst in which he took an admirable 4-17, with one of his victims being Chris Hewison, setting the scene for Callum Barnes to wrap things up with 3-28.

But with the title now tantalizingly close the wheels came off the run chase when Guy Saxton took out the first two Tynedale batters for ducks, Stephen Smith (4- 22) and Nicky Phillips (3- 15) then running through the rest of the home lineup to leave the table-toppers with an anxious wait for news from Ashington.

And that wait proved well worthwhile as the Bridge hadn’t found batting too much easier in their game despite a battling 84-ball unbeaten 45 from Kieran Milburn. Callum Storey became the hero of Tynedale, bagging six wickets for 34 runs as Shotley crumbled to 112 all out in 39.3 overs.

Anirudh Singh then showed how it should be done, reigning supreme throughout the Colliers successful run chase with seven fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 73 scored from 113 balls. The next top score came from number seven Daniel Grant (16 not out) as he kept Singh company after the first five batsmen had mustered just 19 runs between them to present the Bridge with hope. Stuart Graham took two of those wickets to finish level with Storey as the league’s leading wicket takers with 44, but the main prize had gone as Ashington leapfrogged their beaten opponents to finish as runners-up.

Ryton won for the second time in eight days, knocking off a Burnopfield target of 172-9 in just 33 overs, Shoaib Akhtar headlining in the run chase with six fours and two sixes in a rapid half century. But it was all to no avail. With Burnopfield leaving to join the DCL in 2015, there was just one relegation place to worry about, but the deduction of 20 points left Ryton 13 behind Leadgate and facing the drop.